Federalization Would 'Unite Syria', Ensure Rights of Diverse Population

Syria becoming a federal state would serve as a uniting factor, as it would ensure that the cultural differences of all Syrians are respected, Senam Mohamed, European Representative of the Rojava (Western Kurdistan) Administration, told Sputnik Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Sputnik, published on Wednesday, that the it would be impossible for Syria to exist as a federal state because the country is too small. He also claimed that the majority of the Kurds wanted to live in a united and not a federalized country.

“We, Kurds, want to live within a unified system that is a democratic federal system and that is uniting Syria, not dividing it. Syria now is already divided, even if it is not declared… This [federal] system will ensure the rights and freedoms of all the components living together by taking into account the geographic, cultural, economic and demographic characteristics,” Mohamed, who is also the co-chair of the People's Council of Western Kurdistan, said.

Therefore, a democratic federal system rather than a centralized administration is what Syria needs, she added.

At a constituent conference in the Hasakah province on March 17, the Syrian Kurds announced the creation of a federal region in the country's north — the so-called Federal Democratic System of Rojava and Northern Syria. Some 200 delegates from Syria’s north, home to a predominantly Kurdish population, attended the conference.

The Kurds are a Middle Eastern ethnic group with the population of some 30-35 million living mainly in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.